A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Northrop Grumman Corporation, its subsidiary Northrop Grumman Space and Mission Systems Corporation, and its predecessor TRW Inc. (collectively, Northrop). They are accused of providing and billing the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) for defective microelectronic parts, known as Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBTs).
The whistleblower will receive a $48.75 million share of the recovery.
Originally filed in 2002, the United States intervened in 2008 and alleged that Northrop and TRW failed to properly test and qualify certain HBTs manufactured by TRW from 1992 to 2002. As a result, Northrop and TRW integrated into NRO satellite equipment certain defective HBTs. The investigation further concluded that Northrop and TRW made misrepresentations about, and concealed certain material facts regarding the reliability of the HBTs.
